More Yankee Scandal

Derek Jeter came clean Wednesday night. He pilfered the Joe DiMaggio sign, as I suspected.

When I had last seen Jeter before covering the kickoff party to his celebrity golf classic for his Turn 2 Foundation at the Saddlebrook Resort about a half-north of here, he had refused comment on the famous sign (“I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee”) in the tunnel leading to the Yankees dugout that went missing soon after their last Stadium home game.

A clue on his intentions had come earlier that night, when he said he had his eye on a particular Stadium keepsake but wouldn’t say which. After the game and on-field celebration, I noticed the sign was missing and told him, “I know what you’re taking out of here,” and I asked if I could report it.

He shook his head and replied, “In due time.”

Four months later, he admitted he had taken the sign, and another item or two.

Look, I know he’s the Cap’n and all of that, but why does he get the sign? If it was a fixture of the stadium, doesn’t it belong to the city? If it belongs to the team, hasn’t he done to the Yankees what Ruben Rivera did to him? Either way, isn’t that sign pretty valuable and, you know, not his?

One hopes that either an invoice or a large charitable donation with Jeter’s name on it comes to pass pretty soon.

Arrest him! He should fry what he’s done! I’m sure nothing will happen though. He’ll get away because he’s Jeter. If Jason Giambi or A-Rod had stolen that plaque, there would be an angry mob of Yankee fans from Jersey wearing beer stained wife beaters accumulating outside of their houses with torches.

It doesn’t bother me that he took it, it’s the freakin’ double standard of how Jeter is treated compared to A-Rod, Ruben Rivera, whoever. But he knows how to appeal to the media – calling Joe Torre “Mr. Torre” and the like – that endear him to reporters and fans.